In the 1930s, Elsa Schiaparelli, the cantankerous, iconoclastic, innovative Italian fashion designer who had adopted Paris as her home, was at the height of her career. She had captured the interest and following of celebrities, the press, and women in Europe and the US. She had tested boundaries, made headlines, and become a vibrant part of Parisian society. 

Her elegant, often irreverent evening attire and her no-nonsense suits with broad shoulders were sensations. Her collaborations with her Surrealist artist friends had yielded iconic designs that titillated, sometimes infuriated, but garnered recognition. She had created a new signature color, Shocking, an eye-popping fuchsia, still known in France as le shocking, incorporating it into all her collections and the packaging of her wildly successful fragrance, also called Shocking, which had made her a household name. 

Extraordinary but practical 

Her designs could be extreme, particularly the ones influenced by Salvador Dali and Jean Cocteau (but primarily Dali) -- a hat in the shape of a high-heeled shoe or lamb chop, a belt buckle in the form of lips, an evening coat with the embroidered lovers on the back kissing, jackets with drawers for pockets, and the famous “Lobster dress” worn by the Duchess of Windsor on her honeymoon. But Schiaparelli had keen intuition about what women wanted in clothing but had been unable to find. 

A strong athlete, (she also ran with Dali), Schiaparelli understood the disadvantages of playing tennis in a long skirt. She rocked the fashion and sports world by outfitting Spain’s Lili Alvarez in culottes for her match at Wimbledon in 1931. 

She invented the easy-to-wear wrap dress (the forerunner of Diane von Furstenberg’s signature design) and bathing suits with built-in bras. She incorporated jumpsuits, overalls, and mix-and-match separates into her collections. She was first to pair jackets with evening gowns and design “power suits” with tapered cuts that elongated the female form. She experimented with synthetic fabrics long before they were mainstream. By 1935, her catwalk shows were cast as entertainment, with music and art. 

Her mantra was to dare women to be different, one of the “12 Commandments” she listed in her autobiography. She had a penchant for bold, powerful women; Schiaparelli dressed the A-list: Marlene Dietrich, Mae West, Joan Crawford, the Duchess of Windsor, Greta Garbo, Katherine Hepburn. 

A privileged start in Rome 

Schiaparelli’s path to fashion design was as untraditional as she was. She didn’t study art -- she was a student of philosophy at the University of Rome – nor did she sew, but she had soaked up art and culture as a daughter in an elite, intellectual family. Her mother was an aristocrat, and her father a Middle Eastern and Islamic scholar and authority on Sanskrit. An uncle was an astronomer who discovered the canali on Mars in 1877. Schiaparelli was raised in Rome’s Palazzo Corsini, its interiors adorned with masterpiece paintings and books. 

Her rebellious streak took shape in the massive palazzo, where she is said to have been a shy, and introverted girl, made more so because her mother repeatedly told her she was not as beautiful as her sisters. Still, she was well-educated and understood the rules of society, which served her well when she eventually fled Italy for London and began to make her way in new circles. She impetuously married a Polish count, who ended up being Swiss and a charlatan. They went to France, then to New York, where their only child, Gogo, was born. (Gogo was the mother of actress/model Marisa Berenson). The marriage failed; Schiaparelli fled once again, this time to Paris, with friends from New York, Dadist painter Francis Picabia and Surrealist visual artist Man Ray. 

Schiaparelli bypassed Italy. She had begun her ascent in the interwar years, when Paris was the center of the fashion world. In Fashion Under Fascism, Eugenia Paulicelli, professor of Italian at Queens College (City University of New York--CUNY) and Director Fashion Studies at CUNY Graduate Center, says Paris was the “ideal terrain” for Schiaparelli “to express her innovative modern designs that had been the product of her collaboration with Salvador Dali, Jean Cocteau, and others.” The city was “a mecca for artists” who “took part in the cosmopolitan intellectual life of the capital,” and Paris had “established itself as the center of the nation.” Italy had “several centers of art and culture” but because it was a “decentered nation – and still is in a way… the result was a weak sense of the nation as a united entity.” Paulicelli reminds us that Mussolini tried to “defeat” French couture, but wealthy Italians continued shop for high fashion in Paris. Mussolini’s lover, Margherita Sarfatti, wore Schiaparelli, bought in Paris. Italy did not take its place on the world fashion stage until the 1950s. 

A steady ascent 

Once in Paris, Schiaparelli began to move in artistic circles and design and make clothes; she was self-taught. In 1927, at the age of 37, she showed her first collection, sweaters with trompe l’oeil adornments. It was innovative enough to be covered in Vogue. Her business took off, Schiaparelli never looked back, and the rest is well-documented history. 

In 1931, she set up her atelier at 21 Place Vendome, which became known as Schiap Shop; Schiaparelli hated her name, and preferred the nickname Schiap (pronounced “Skap.”) Even her granddaughters called her Schiap; predictably, Schiaparelli disliked being called “grandmother.” 

By 1934, Schiaparelli was on cover of Time Magazine. Her atelier was touted as one of “a handful of houses now at or near the peak of their power as arbiters of the ultra-modern haute couture… Madder and more original than most of her contemporaries, Mme. Schiaparelli is the one to whom the word “genius” is applied most often.” Coco Chanel, Schiaparelli’s arch rival, who famously once referred to Schiaparelli as “that Italian artist who makes clothes,” came in second in the Time ranking. 

World War II brought challenges. Schiaparelli used her connections to move easily in and out of Germany-occupied France, raising suspicions. She left for New York in 1942. When she returned in 1946, her brand of chic had fallen out of favor. Dior’s romantic designs had won the hearts and checkbooks of wealthy patrons. 

She closed shop in 1954 for lack of credit, but before she did, she appeared on the iconic American game show, What’s My Line? The clip from 1952 is a revealing look at her style and persona. 

Ever the enterprising entrepreneur, she had not left herself without prospects; she had licensing agreements for products from nail polish to eye glasses. She lived between Paris and her home in Tunisia and died in her sleep in 1973. 

Schiaparelli never lost her relevance or influence. In 2006, billionaire CEO Diego Della Valle of Tod’s bought the name and atelier. He announced the revival to coincide with 2012 Costume Institute gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which inaugurated a Schiaparelli-Prada exhibit, “Impossible Conversations.” 

A new generation of well-heeled women and celebrities are wearing Schiaparelli on the red carpet today. Schiap’s shocking flame burns bright.